Moon Tears
by GhostfaceScylla
Summary: ONE SHOT Valentines Day has infiltrated my brain and made me fluff crazy. K&K one-shot. R&R please! Lara-chan is updating the rest of her stories tomorrow! Thankies!


Ok. I haven't exactly gotten Valentines Day out of my system yet. I'm hoping by posting this sappy, fluffy, waffy ficcie I can rid myself of it for good ^___^  
Just a kawaii little one-shot that kept calling to be written

Hope you enjoy!  
reviews and flames are much appreciated!  
I'm planning on updating my other stories, Walking After Midnight, Paradise, and the rest, tomorrow…..

One Shot by Kawaii Lara-chan

Moon Tears

February 22, 2004

Disclaimer: Kenshin belongs to somebody else as does Kaoru. Not me. Me no own. You no sue ^__^

        In every household, there are unspoken rules.

        The Kamiya Dojo was no different.

        For example, Yahiko _always_ cleaned the dojo floor first thing in the morning.

        Kenshin _always_ washed clothes and heated the bathwater for 'Kaoru-dono'.

        And Kaoru _always _laid out the futons every night.

        It was the kind of thing that happened every day and would continue to happen every day despite war, pestilence, slaughter, or come what may.

        And there was a way about doing things, too. Kaoru always laid out a futon for herself, for Yahiko, and one for Kenshin in his room, but laying a futon out for Kenshin was about as useful as giving a dog bone to a gerbil. For one, the man hardly slept at all, and when he _did_ sleep, he leaned up against a wall and clutched his sakabatou tightly to his chest.

        So it didn't really matter much when Kaoru sprung out of bed in the middle of the night and realized that she had forgotten to lay a futon out for Kenshin earlier in the evening. It didn't really matter to anyone but her… 

        Perhaps she was a bit obsessive-compulsive, but the idea of three people and two futons laid out didn't sit particularly well in her brain. She reached for her blue jacket and her slippers, hurrying down the hallway as fast and as quietly as possible. 

        It was early spring, the chill of winter hadn't completely dissipated just yet, and the march rains were beating down on the roof of the dojo. Outside, the wind seemed to rip through the thin shoji and thunder cackled behind her. 

        'Maybe he laid out his own futon…' She thought as she pressed her hand to the door of Kenshin's room. 'But why would he? It's not like he uses it…'

        'Then why are you doing it for him?!' her conscience screamed back as she tried to slide the door open. 

        'But think of all the things he does for you EVERY DAY! The least you can do is keep up your end of the deal and lay out the stupid futon! But can you even do that? NO!'

        'You know,' she thought as she stepped lightly into his room, 'this is almost breaking and entering…'

        'You've done worse things…' she comforted herself, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness of the room.

        Kaoru tried to listen for his breathing as she made her way over to the closet and pulled out the futon, tried to find out where exactly he was in the room, but she heard no sound but her own dragging footsteps. She threw the folded futon down in the middle of the room and began to walk around the perimeter to see if she could find him leaning against a wall somewhere. She had circled the room three times before she finally came to the conclusion…

        He wasn't there…

        Kenshin wasn't in the room at all…

        But at least his sandals were, so he couldn't have gone too far. Perhaps he was on a walk… in the middle of the night… without his shoes…

        Kaoru pushed all horrible thoughts out of her mind. She couldn't think about the possibility that anything at all could have happened to Kenshin. Or worse, perhaps he had left her. No, she couldn't think that either. She would lay out his futon and wait for him to return…

        Then, she would give him a good piece of her mind. People shouldn't be traipsing about on dark and stormy nights by themselves… Ex-hitokiri or not, it was _dangerous!_

        Now she had worked herself into a fury. Kaoru grabbed the sheets and the mattress and rolled them out madly, tucking them into the corners hurriedly and fluffing the round pillow with her closed fists. Then, she sat in the middle of the futon and placed her hands on her knees, focusing her eyes towards the doorway to the hall. He would return. And when he did, she would be waiting…

        But the night was heavy on her despite the constant rain. And in a few minutes, her head had dropped to her chest. Her breathing was light, but Kaoru was definitely fast asleep. A couple of minutes she passed like this, until…

        KA-BOOM!

        Thunder followed lightning from somewhere outside. Kaoru suddenly snapped her head straight up, and before she knew what she was doing, let out a deafening shriek.

        She was still shaking from the fright of the thunder when she realized what she was doing and clasped her hand over her mouth.

        'Great, Kaoru..' She thought. 'Just TELL Yahiko that you're in Kenshin's room waiting for him to _return…_ like he'll believe that…'

        Then, Kaoru heard a strange noise. It sounded like… A shoji door sliding open.        

        It was coming from behind her. It was coming from the door that opened towards the outside porch. 

        And there wasn't a bokken in sight. Just peachy. The door was completely open now, the wind and rain was coming in on Kaoru's back. She turned around ever so slowly to face someone standing there. 

        The light struck the figure in such a way that Kaoru could only see the outline and not the face.

        Then the figure spoke.

        "Kaoru-dono! Where are you! Wait, why are you…Uh… Kaoru-dono? What are you doing in here?"     

        Kaoru breathed an inner sigh of relief. The 'dono', thank Kami it was only Kenshin. In her excitement at the fact that Kenshin was _not _some burglar trying to rape her, it had slipped her mind that she was in his ROOM, on his FUTON, in the middle of the night.

        Kenshin scratched his Rurouni head with his hand and waited for an answer.

        "I could ask you the same question, baka!" 

        "Uhh, well, Kaoru-dono, this _is _ sessha's room…"

        "That's not what I meant!" Kaoru placed her hands on her hips and stood up on the futon. "I come in here in the MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT to lay out your futon, and where are you? You're running around in the dark and stormy wee hours of the morning! Have you been to a tea house?! Or perhaps a gambling joint with that good-for-nothing rooster head?!"

        Kenshin turned redder than his hair. "Not that sessha isn't appreciative, but sessha never even uses the futon…"

        "THAT'S NOT THE POINT! STOP AVOIDING THE QUESTION! WHERE WERE YOU?!" Kaoru hissed through her teeth, almost yelling.

        "Sessha was, well, sessha was looking at the moon from the porch…"

        "YOU WERE WHA- wait… come again?"

        Kenshin smiled in his quiet way. "Hai, come look at it." Then he turned around and walked back onto the verandah of the dojo.  Kaoru followed, her expression something between confusion and slight annoyance.

        The rain was still falling steadily, but for a few minutes there had been no thunder. Up in the sky, the clouds had parted just enough to let the full spring moon become visible. The raindrops took on a silver glow as they bounced off of the ground.

        Kaoru caught her breath in her throat as she drank the scene fresh out of a fairytale. "It's… it's," she stuck her hand out past the overhang on the verandah and let the rain fall onto it. "It's like the moon is crying."

        "It's strange that Kaoru-dono thinks of it that way… most people would think it's lovely."      

        "Hai, it islovely. But rain is just so… sad."

        Just then, a lightning bolt lit up the sky not too far from the dojo and produced a deafening sound. Kaoru let out another shriek and snatched her hand back out of the rain towards her body, jumping backwards and stumbling. Kenshin reached out to grab her, saving her from hitting the damp, hard wood of the porch. He laughed softly. "Kaoru-dono really doesn't like storms, ne? You've faced members of the Juppongatana without hesitation, and yet the thunder scares you?"

        Kaoru turned her face downwards and her cheeks reddened. "Hai. Gomen, Kenshin. I… I'm going back inside…" She dragged her feet back into Kenshin's room.

        "Wait, Kaoru-dono!" Kenshin sounded, skipping forwards towards her retreating form. Just as he touched her on the shoulder, another thunder boom came from the sky. Kaoru jumped around and buried her head in the front of Kenshin's gi. She stood there trembling for a moment while Kenshin wrapped his arms around her. Then, she snaked herself free and turned her face up towards him.

        "Kaoru-dono… May sessha ask why you're so afraid of storms?" At this, Kaoru walked over to the futon and sat down, ringing her hands in her lap as she did. "You… you don't have to tell sessha… Sessha would just like to help you, that's all…" Kenshin walked over to her and sat down beside her. He was inches away from her face now, her eyes looked worried and every time a thunder clap came, she would shut them tightly and shake her head to take attention away from her trembling body. 

        "I, I only distinctly remember two storms in my life. Yet, every single one always brings back those memories…" As she began talking, Kenshin reached for her hand and began stroking it. She was on the verge of tears. "The first storm was the night my father left and never returned… of course I've been dealing with that all of my life. The other one… the other one…" she stopped again.

        "The other one?" Kenshin probed her blue eyes.

        "The other one was, well, it was the night of May 14, Meiji 11…" Kenshin's face registered shock.

        "The night sessha-"

        "The night you said goodbye to me and left for Kyoto. The night you told me you'd never return…" The sky banged again and Kaoru fell forward into Kenshin's arms. She let her welled up emotions flow now. 

        "Kaoru-dono, I-" he started as he wrapped his arms around her.

        "It rained… It rained so hard that night. And I just, I couldn't… So much pain." She said, lifting her strained face to his. "And before, knowing that you were here with me in this big dojo chased the nightmares of my father away… But now, every time it rains, all I can ever think about is you leaving me…" She buried her head in his gi again and he put his chin on the top of her head very lightly. "And I can never sleep… because I'm afraid you'll go wandering away and never come back… How can I ever be sure you're truly here to stay? I can't…"

        "But Kaoru-dono, I came back from Kyoto."

        "Yes Kenshin. Only because I came after you…" Kaoru sat up again and turned her face away. Kenshin was about to correct her on her last statement when she continued right on. "You think it's silly that I'm scared of storms?"

        "No. Everyone's afraid of something."

        "Even you?"

        "Hai. Even sessha."

        "Wh… When were you most afraid?" She asked, her eyes wide and hopeful. Yet another clap of thunder rained down from the heavens. Kenshin pulled Kaoru into his lap and tightened his grip on her.

        'She's so small…' he thought. "Surely you must know." She shook her head against him. "It was when, when Jineh had you. Sesshathought you were going to die, Kaoru-dono. I thought I was going to lose you. That's my worst fear." Kaoru stiffened her shoulders a bit and then relaxed as Kenshin continued talking. "And that's why even if you hadn't come for sessha in Kyoto, sessha would have come back to make sure you were safe. Sessha would have come back _home_ to make sure."

        "Arigatou, Kenshin."

        He hugged her a bit tighter. "You don't have to thank sessha. Sessha cares for you. And that's why…" He took a hand off her back and grabbed a comforter from under them, wrapping it around the both of them in a few seconds. "And that's why…" he repeated. Then, he cradled her in his strong arms. The thunder cracked again, but Kaoru did not shake. "You need your rest. Go ahead and go to sleep."

        "R… really?"

        "Hai. Sessha will chase away the nightmares, de gozaru yo."

        "Oh, Kenshin… Thank you…" She snuggled herself into the crook of his arms. "And goodnight."

        "Goodnight, Kaoru." He breathed. Then, when he was absolutely sure she was asleep, "Goodnight, koshii." 

Like it? Hate it? Choking on the waffiness?? *me too*

Leave me a review and TELL ME!!  
[larachan]


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